United States of America and Spain have won their groups on day three of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Cup at the Ugra State University Sports Complex. Group B was settled early when defending champion United States of America delivered a second defeat of the week to Hungary. With three wins, USA won and in the second match, Australia defeated South Africa 20-2 for second spot.

Group A went to Spain even though it lost to Russia 7-6 in the showcase match of the day. In a quality match where all the best players from Spain and Russia stepped up, there could be only one winner and that was the host nation, coming from 6-5 down with 5:28 left on the clock. It forced a three-way tie in the group and after the officials deliberated, Spain still won the group with a +6 goal differential to Russia’s 0. China beat Russia on day one so China was second and Russia third. The match before, China gained second place with a 22-1 victory over Singapore.

World Cup 2014 (W): Champions take centre stage on Day 2

Defending champion United States of America and world and European champion Spain are unbeaten after day two of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Cup at the Ugra State University Sports Complex.

USA began strongly in the Group B match and maintained a distance against perennial rival Australia before winning 8-6. Spain looked impressive against China in Group A, winning 12-5 after being 7-3 up early in the third quarter. China looked drained after its wonderful upset of Russia the previous night. The lesser lights took stage and South Africa scored three centre-forward goals against Hungary in the 25-3 loss. It was Hungary’s first win in Group B. In the final encounter of the day, Russia beat Singapore 35-2 In a Group A match-up.

YOG 2014: Youngsters ready to shine in Nanjing

A pool of young talents is gearing up for the second edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) taking place in China’s “Southern capital” on August 16-28, 2014. After a dazzling inaugural edition in Singapore in 2010, which saw South African Chad Le Clos (swimming) and Chinese Qiu Bo (diving) start making their mark in the world arena, the 2012 Olympic medallists are inspiration for the youth, who them to, hope to leave a strong impression in the pool and beyond.

The world’s up-and-coming elite aged 14-18 will compete in 28 sports, including swimming and diving. Nanjing 2014 will feature two new sports, golf and rugby, ahead of their debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Counting fewer events and disciplines, the YOG competition programme comprises 5% of non-Olympic, mixed-gender or mixed-NOC events.

Khanty-Mansiysk, Day 1: Action aplenty on opening day of FINA Women’s World Cup

Australia, United States of America, Spain and China were winners on the opening day of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Cup at the Ugra State University Sports Complex.

In Group A, Spain went into counter-attack heaven with a 34-3 victory over World Cup newcomer Singapore with world and European champion Roser Tarrago netting seven goals. Russia lost the final match in a gripping 14-13 encounter with China to end the day in front of a capacity house — there was a large screen outside the venue. Russian fans were not rejoicing.

Kazan 2014, Day 3: Orlando Duque (COL) is already a legend

“You never think you can achieve this. It was clearly my day”. These were the first words of Orlando Duque (COL), the winner of the inaugural edition of the FINA High Diving World Cup organised in Kazan on August 8-10, 2014. The Colombian icon already made history at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona when he got the gold medal, following the inclusion of this exciting discipline in the FINA aquatic programme. “After Day 1, the scores were pretty close so I knew the competition would be very tough”, added Duque, who turns 40 years old in less than a month.

The Colombian diver totalled 601.20 points at the end of the five-dive competition, divided in two days: on Friday, at the end of the first three dives, Duque was second, but after two very solid dives on Sunday (average notes of 8.5) he got the gold in Kazan.